Implantable medical devices (IMDs) continue to be integrated into various aspects of patient care. For instance, IMDs are utilized to sense patient conditions and/or deliver therapy(s) to the patient. IMDs are employed with various organ systems, such as the neurological system, endocrine system, and circulatory system, among others. In relation to the circulatory system, IMDs are in widespread use. IMDs, such as pacemakers and defibrillators, monitor many different cardiac parameters that may be used to determine how well a patient's heart is functioning. For instance, IMDs can measure morphology-related parameters, impedance, intrinsic heart rate, heart rate recovery, heart rate variability, conduction delay, pressure, posture, activity, and so forth. This patient data can be used to evaluate the patient's heart, overall patient health and/or to deliver appropriate therapy to the patient.
IMDs are commonly configured to stimulate the heart with pulses in response to analysis of individual measured parameters, or combinations of the measured parameters. Additionally, the IMDs can store these measured parameters over time and periodically communicate them to external computing device(s) for further analysis. In some scenarios, one communication session might involve interrogating the IMD to retrieve the patient data, analyzing the patient data, and reprogramming a functionality of the IMD based upon the analyzed patient data. During some sessions, this process of interrogating, analyzing, and reprogramming may be repeated for multiple iterations in an attempt to address a patient condition. Efficient communication between an IMD and an external computing device is therefore desired, promoting several advantages. For instance, in some cases, the patient's health may depend upon timely data transfer within a communication session. Where the IMD is reprogrammed based upon the patient data, for example, efficient data transmission may influence a life or death outcome. In a more subtle scenario, a patient's quality of life may be enhanced when communication sessions between the IMD and the external computing device can be accomplished in a timely manner so that the patient can return to other pursuits.